The Worlds Biggest Jack-up Rig

With the XLE Rigs currently in construction, we will deliver the most advanced jack-up drilling rigs in existence. All of them will be customized to handle demanding and complex well drilling operations in the North Sea.

Maersk XL Enhanced drilling rig

For more than 40 years, Maersk Drilling have operated drilling rigs in the North Sea, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico. Maersk Drilling is currently building four of the world’s biggest jack-up drilling rigs. These Ultra Harsh Enviroment jack-ups will be delivered during 2014 and 2015. On the XL Enhanced jack-ups, uptime and drilling efficiency are maximised through dual pipe handling.

While one string is working in the well bore, a second string of e.g. casing, drill pipe or bottom hole assembly can be assembled/disassembled and stored in the set-back area, ready for subsequent transfer for use in the well bore thus reducing the non-productive time. The drill floor features Multi Machine Control – a fully remote operated pipe handling system allowing all standard operations such as stand building and tripping to be conducted without personnel on the drill floor, thus ensuring a high level of consistency across crews and an improved efficiency.

Deployment of the XLE rigs

Maersk Drilling will have 10 jack-up rigs operating in the Norwegian North Sea when the new rigs are fully operational, affirming its leading position in the region. The cost of creating three XLE rigs is close to USD 2 billion. Once completed, they will be deployed to North Sea oil fields under long-term contracts.

The hard facts about the XLE rigs

Long legged

Maersk Drilling’s XLE rigs will have legs as long as those in the drilling rig Maersk Innovator. If they stood side-by-side with some of the world’s most iconic land structures, the rigs would dwarf some of these attractions and even rival the height of others. With a leg length of 206.8 m (678 ft), the rigs are designed for year-round operation in the North Sea, in water depths up to 150 m (492 ft).

Big feet

Jack-up rigs – the most often used type of mobile offshore drilling unit – are named as such because they can be raised or lowered above or below the drilling deck via movable legs that can be extended or “jacked.” The rig spud cans, or feet, are so big they have to be designed in 3-pieces before they can be joined in the dock.

The huge hull

About 30,000 tons of high-quality steel is needed to form each rig. The length of each hull equals the length of a football pitch and the legs stand as tall as nearly nine tennis courts laid end-to-end.

Innovation on a grand scale

Key features

Deck cranes

Drill floor

The XL Enhanced jack-ups feature Multi Machine Control; a fully remote operated pipe handling system allowing all standard operations such as stand building and tripping to be conducted without personnel on the drill floor thus ensuring a high level of consistency across crews and an improved efficiency.

Derrick capacity

The derrick allows for drill pipe to be racked in quads or range 3 in triples – and casing in stands of triples.

Life On Board the XLE Rigs

Facilities, such as a cinema for 50 people, computer games room and a fully equipped gym, help the crew strike a work-life balance.

Cinema for 50 people

Computer games room

Fully-equipped gym

Safety is paramount at Maersk

Safety in offshore drilling is about constant risk management, and only with the right safety culture, operational procedures, and technology, can we ensure that the push to go the extra mile, does not compromise safety

Prepared for the requirements of tomorrow

In the XL rigs, MÆRSK INNOVATOR and MÆRSK INSPIRER, we have the world’s largest and most advanced jack-up rigs. These highly successful rigs have been the basis for the new XL Enhanced rigs where we have taken advantage of the lessons learned through 8 years of operational experience.

This, together with input from customers, crews and in-house specialists, has enabled us to incorporate enhanced features to improve the rigs’ capabilities within efficiency, safety and logistics.

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